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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1970 Sep;67(1):62–67. doi: 10.1073/pnas.67.1.62

Steric and Electronic Relationships among Some Hallucinogenic Compounds*

Sungzong Kang 1, Jack Peter Green 1
PMCID: PMC283167  PMID: 5272329

Abstract

Stereochemical considerations and total valence electron calculations suggest congruities among the ostensibly dissimilar hallucinogenic compounds, D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), indolcalkylamines, and methoxylated amphetamines. In LSD the aromatic benzene ring A and the N-6 nitrogen are essential for hallucinogenic activity; these sites may react with the receptor. The conformations of amphetamines and indolealkylamines at the receptor are such that the aromatic benzene ring lies like ring A of LSD and the alkylamino nitrogen lies like the N-6 of LSD. Ring A may interact with the receptor by forming a π-molecular complex, as suggested by the correlation between hallucinogenic activity and energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (EH) of congeneric series. The N-6 nitrogen of LSD and the sterically congruent nitrogen of the other hallucinogenic compounds may react with the receptor by forming a donor acceptor complex of the n-π* or n-σ* type. Other portions of the hallucinogenic molecules confer a favorable EH: these include the methoxy and hydroxyl groups of the amphetamines (and mescaline), and the indolealkylamines; and the pyrrole ring of LSD and the indolealkylamines.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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